Zulu,
I thought Naparima means "no water" as oppose to Arima which means "place of water". Clarify nah.
The original name is Anaparima, but de Spanish change it to Naparima when dey named de town San Fernando de Naparima. It look like dey eh sure if it mean "single hill" or "no water", bit I think most people tend to accept it as "single hill".
http://www.kacike.org/srcc/arima.htmlArima: What's in a Name?Unfortunately, given that still too little is known about the earliest Amerindian inhabitants, a lot of gaps are filled in by guesswork. One of the most common assumptions is that the name "Arima," means "land of plenty water," possibly because there is a river running through the Arima valley (and this assumes that Amerindians used only one word for all kinds of water, whether salt-, fresh-, river-, or sea-water). This would not explain "Anaparima," or what is known today as Naparima Hill in San Fernando since there is no water on that hill, yet, the word "arima" forms part of that word. One of the translations of "Anaparima" that has gained currency is "Single Hill." That the word "arima" should mean "hill" seems plausible given the fact that the old centre of Arima is overshadowed by a foothill of the Northern Range, today called Calvary Hill. In studying dictionaries and word lists of the Cariban language from Dominica and the Lokono language in Guyana (an Arawakan language), the word "arima" makes no appearance in either case. This poses a problem. It might be the case that the word "arima" is, by elimination, a Warao word (Warauan being the third major language family of the Orinoco delta region). Anaparima was also a major ritual centre for Waraos (also known as Warrahoons in Trinidad, or Guaraunos in Spanish) from north-eastern Venezuela, and this seems to further the possibility of a Warao base to some of the names in Trinidad. However, it might also be a mistake to overstate the ethno-linguistic differences between the Warao, Arawak and Carib groupings, having lived in close proximity to each other for many centuries. Indeed, word lists from Trinidad, a major thoroughfare and transit station for Amerindian groups from across the Orinoco delta and the Amazon, may simply reflect the presence of a lingua franca. However, what remains implausible are the long repeated notions that Amerindians in Trinidad expressed entire sentences in single words, such as the famous belief that the Amerindian name for Trinidad was "Iere" (also erroneous), and could be translated as "land of the humming bird."
What we can surmise is that publications which suggest that Arima was named after Chief Hyarima of the seventeenth century are mistaken. First, the name of the area predates the appearance of the chief. Also, it is not plausible that the Spanish authorities would willingly accept naming a town after a rebel who had "murdered" Spaniards. It also seems odd that the name would be shortened to just "Arima." Moreover, "arima" also appears in the name of Chief Maquarima, one of the five chiefs freed from imprisonment by Sir Walter Ralegh in his raid on St. Joseph in 1595, so it does not seem that "arima" is a word peculiar to Chief Hyarima.
It might be the case that Hyarima is a compound word, combining "Hiari," the poisonous root used by Amerindians to kill fish in rivers, also a very tall plant, and "arima" meaning "hill." The symbolism then is that of a warrior who kills Spaniards like mere fish in the river, and a man tall and broad like a hill overshadowing a small village. Very roughly then we would have a chiefly name that underscores attributes of prowess and skill as a warrior, which we might translate imaginatively, not to mention crudely, as "Poison Hill," or, "Mountain Root" (a foothill might also be seen as the "root" of a mountain), amongst other possibilities. However, this is plain speculation.
The less exciting possibility is that "Hyarima" is another result of modern Trinidadian linguistic creolization, in this case the Spanish name "Hierronima," since there is nothing to say that "Hyarima" might himself have been an ex-Mission Indian who had been given, or had adopted, a Hispanic name, like so many other Amerindians living in Missions or in close contact with Spaniards. In addition Hyarima comes to us from Dutch sources, opening up the possibility of multiple mispronunciations and incorrect transcriptions occurring along the way, much the same way that caniba became caribal then cannibal and Carib and so on.
Two of Arima's most prominent cultural landmarks are those pertaining to its Amerindian and Mission history. The first is symbolized at by the statue of Chief Hyarima, erected at the western entrance to Arima, next to the Velodrome (one of Arima's modern landmarks). The second is embodied in the figure of St. Rose, renamed locally as "Santa Rosa de Arima." St. Rose is often hailed as "La Divina Patrona de Arima" -- Arima's Divine Patron.